* Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Thursday he will run for president in next year's election, hoping to succeed Sauli Niinisto who is stepping down after two terms.
* Annual investments in improving energy efficiency must triple by 2030 in order for the world to remain able to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.
* Ministers and senior officials from BRICS member states on Tuesday pledged enhanced partnership aimed at promoting sustainable urban development in the face of multiple challenges including pollution and climate emergencies.
* The secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, met Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a visit to Minsk, where the two men discussed security issues, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported on Thursday.
* Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela next week, Iran's state news agency IRNA announced on Wednesday, adding that the upcoming tour stemmed from invites from the presidents of each of the Latin American nations.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud discussed ensuring the stability of the global energy market during a phone conversation, according to a statement by the Kremlin's press service on Wednesday.
* The United Nations is continuing to engage with the parties on the export of ammonia from Russia despite the latest sabotage of the ammonia pipeline via Ukraine, said a UN spokesman on Wednesday.
* Home affairs ministers from the European Union's 27 member states gathered on Thursday to try get across the line an elusive agreement on how to share out the responsibility of caring for refugees and migrants.
* U.S. President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will focus on deepening close economic ties between the United States and Britain when they meet at the White House on Thursday, with Russia-Ukraine’s crisis another big topic for the NATO allies.
* The United States and Saudi Arabia urged countries to take back citizens captured in the fight against Islamic State, with the kingdom's top diplomat saying it was "absolutely unacceptable" that wealthy countries skirted that responsibility.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the flooded southern region of Kherson on Thursday to discuss emergency operations after flooding caused by the destruction of a huge dam.
* "A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group" blew up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in Kharkov region on Monday night, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
* Regardless of whether a cease-fire is in effect in Sudan, the United Nations and its partners will continue to deliver humanitarian aid, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.
* Czech President Petr Pavel on Wednesday signed a law that raises the country's annual defense spending to at least 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), his office said in a statement.
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday highlighted the necessity of promoting dialogue for Turkey's accession to the European Union (EU) in a phone talk with Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held a phone conversation on Wednesday to discuss the further development of bilateral strategic partnership.
* Lebanese Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan on Wednesday called for a unified Arab strategy to ensure regional food security, the National News Agency reported.
* Australia's peak medical body has issued a warning over vaccine "complacency" as COVID and flu cases continue to rise heading into winter.
* Japan's economic growth was upwardly revised in the January-March quarter to an annualized real 2.7 percent growth, as companies were found to have spent more in the recording period, the government said in a report on Thursday.
* The rate of inflation in India during the current fiscal year (April 2023-March 2024) is expected to remain above 4 percent, while the country's economy is likely to grow at 6.5 percent, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das said on Thursday.
* Cambodia's Labor Minister Ith Samheng said here on Thursday that some 1.3 million Cambodians have been working abroad, sending some 2.7 billion USD in remittance back to their families in 2022.
* Thailand's consumer confidence index (CCI) increased slightly in May, reaching a 39-month high, boosted by higher economic activity during the general election and a rebound in tourism, a survey showed on Thursday.
* Turkey's growth forecasts for 2023 were revised up to 3.6 percent by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and to 3.2 percent by the World Bank from their previous projections.
* The Egyptian cabinet approved in a meeting on Wednesday to establish a new Suez Canal holding company to control two state-run companies that belonged to the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), the cabinet said in a statement.
* Tunisia's Defence Ministry said on Thursday it had lost contact with a helicopter that left for a night flight near Bizerte late on Wednesday with four crew on board.
* Monsoon rain reached the coast of India's southernmost Kerala state on Thursday, offering relief to farmers after a delay of more than a week, marking its latest arrival in seven years.
